Portland: Westwind Farm Studio

The last stop of the first day of the recent Garden Bloggers Fling in Portland was another private garden: Westwind Farm Studio. The name is confusing because it's not a farm and I'm not sure what the "studio" designation is for -- I may have missed the explanation when we arrived. (I did find out later that the property was formerly a sheep farm, so that's part of the answer... and their website explains that they have a recording studio too.)

Its name though was of no consequence, because this was one of my favorite stops of the entire trip, something like what I envision my dream garden to be.Views, grasses, privacy, wildlife, sculpture -- the only thing they didn't have was bamboo, otherwise this might have been designed specifically for me!

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I should point out that I didn't take nearly as many photos here as I did at the day's earlier stops. This was probably due to a mix of exhaustion and excitement at "soaking up" the sights. I still think I captured the important parts though...

...starting with the hillside.

The house and the garden proper are at the top of the hill -- where all of the best views are -- but for me the sight from downslope back up was just as exciting.

The flowers mark where the road previously lived, and I think the color it adds to the meadow is just perfect!

Here's a much wider shot:

Once I joined the group again back at the house, you can see why I like this garden so much...

...the way it blends into the surrounding meadow is just wonderful!

This gradient from tended garden to wild is still in flux; plants are being added, relocated, removed. I wonder what it will look like in a few more years?

The views off into the distance help I'm sure. Captivating.

One of the things I love about these types of gardens is the insect life that is attracted:

The back (or is it the side?) of the house contains the real garden areas, where a pool, outbuilding (the studio perhaps? I didn't go inside...) and a large sculpture reside...

Just beautiful! I love rusted metal in the garden, as its color and texture just work so well for me.

As I mentioned earlier I didn't take as many photos here, but did find a few subjects for macro shots as I left for the bus...

Did I hear somebody say this was fireweed?

I don't understand how there were so many "browns" here at this time of year. We don't typically see these colors until September...

I am so glad that this garden was included in the tour, as it was so different from anything else that we saw in Portland!

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